Second of the Winterset Coven by T. S. Joyce

Author:T. S. Joyce [Joyce, T. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wicked Willow Press
Published: 2016-08-21T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Dawn bumped Garret’s shoulder as they walked to the next halo of street light. He’d given her the choice to walk back to the coven house or to fly, but she selfishly wanted more time with him before they were back with the others. Well, as close to alone as they could get. Dawn looked behind her at where she imagined Shane and Evan to be following in the shadows. She couldn’t see them, but she had this prickly feeling of being watched that raised the fine hairs on the back of her neck.

Since Dawn was now barefoot, her heels dangling from her fingertips, she sidled around a puddle on the edge of the road. Garret was there, hand in hers, helping her keep her balance like a gentleman. When she fell into step with him again, he pulled her hand into the crook of his elbow, right against his rock-hard bicep.

“Did you learn your manners from being a Viking?” she teased.

Garret chuckled. “No. It was a very different time then. Relationships between men and women were different. Touch was different.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was rougher. The women in my village didn’t need to hold hands or hug for minutes on end. There was flirting and shoving and rough fucking and that was affection enough for most.”

“Was it enough for you?”

“Yes,” he said void of hesitation. “It was how I’d grown up. What about you?”

“You’re asking if I’m mushy?”

He flashed her a quick smile and nodded.

Dawn frowned. She hadn’t thought about it before, but she realized now she had changed so very much since meeting Garret. “I wasn’t always mushy in relationships. I didn’t need a lot from boyfriends.” Garret’s arm flexed when she said that last word, so she rushed onward. “I accepted whatever affection they gave me, but I kept them at a distance emotionally. I guess I don’t have a lot of trust in men following through.”

“Because of your dad?”

“Yeah, and my stepdad, Gary. The ones who should’ve stuck around didn’t, and Mom’s boyfriends after that pulled the same stunts until she just stopped trying. I stopped wanting a father figure because there was no benefit that outweighed the pain of saying goodbye. And when I started dating, it was the same story with every one of my boyfriends. They pulled away when things got too serious. Or maybe it was me, I don’t know. Maybe I was halfway out already, and they could tell. I wasn’t surprised when they broke up with me. I just expected it, you know?”

Music notes drifted to her on the wind, and Garret’s attention was now on a house at the end of the block with all its lights on. The smell of grilling hamburgers and the sound of muffled laughter filled the air. Someone must’ve been hosting a barbecue. The song was a slow country song, one Garret liked to play on the old jukebox that sat in the living room of the coven house. His lips curved up into a smile as he pulled Dawn in a wide circle under the street light until she was facing him.

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